Maker Movement

[echo]

This weeks Economist has an article on the "maker" movement and seems to think it may have a lot of future potential. They compare it to personal computers in the 70's, suggesting it does with atoms what computers do with bits. Essentaily 3-d printers, cheap circuit boards and everything is open. To me, it sounds like a hobby and something I wouldn't mind investigating. The prices appear to have come down enough to make it possible.

Has anyone here done anything along these lines? If so, what?

http://www.economist.com/node/21540392

Venture capitalists are nosing around the field. In recent months Quirky raised $16m, MakerBot raised $10m and Shapeways, a firm that offers a 3D-printing service, received $5m.

The parallel with the hobbyist computer movement of the 1970s is striking. In both cases enthusiastic tinkerers, many on America’s West Coast, began playing with new technologies that had huge potential to disrupt business and society. Back then the machines manipulated bits; now the action is in atoms. This has prompted predictions of a new industrial revolution, in which more manufacturing is done by small firms or even by individuals. “The tools of factory production, from electronics assembly to 3D printing, are now available to individuals, in batches as small as a single unit,” writes Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired magazine.

It is easy to laugh at the idea that hobbyists with 3D printers will change the world. But the original industrial revolution grew out of piecework done at home, and look what became of the clunky computers of the 1970s. The maker movement is worth watching.

[campbell]

Yes. It's just a hobby.

We've been subscribing to Make magazine since it started. And went to the Makers Faire in Queens a couple years ago.

[campbell]

Those 3D printers, btw, are used for more than just hobbies.

[ahow]

Read awhile ago about a dude that replaced a $200+ part from his car for something like $15. Just glued it back together, took a bunch of pictures, and they printed and shipped him the part. Pretty amazing stuff.

[knowles]

I saw another model on Kickstartr today. $500 for the kit and seems like the quality will be at or above RepRap and MakerBot.

Printrbot

[limabeanactuary]

At the Makers Faire in 2010:
http://youtu.be/NyMFc8c94fY

[thing]

Been subscribing to "Make" for a while, went to the SF Maker Faire this year, saw a demo of the MakerBot there. It's very nifty stuff, for sure. A lot of the attitude around it is anti-change-the-world, pro-change-your-own-world if that makes sense. That is, I have a difficult time seeing the transition from the hackers to the broader world. Being able to print your own plastic gizmo to fix a thing is great, but most people hire someone 'qualified' to fix the thing for them anyway - so maybe the repair guys start carrying the $1000 3-d printers, but not the households (generally).

That said, because I enjoy making and fixing stuff, I could see myself getting a 3-d printer in the not-so-distant future. It will then mostly be underused - like my paper printer.

If you want to investigate further, I recommend http://makezine.com/ - lots to look at there, reasonably well curated.

[Rick_G]

I am inspired by the Maker movement - some day I'd like to create something useful. I have added the makezine blog to my Google Reader collection.

Even though this does not "change the world", a lot of people who roast their own coffee are hacking their coffee roasters to gain more control.

[echo]

Originally Posted by Rick_G

I am inspired by the Maker movement - some day I'd like to create something useful.

Me too, ...I just can't think of anything particularly useful to make. Seems like it would be fun to do a few projects though. I'll need to look into some of these links more.

[Rick_G]

Originally Posted by Rick_G

Even though this does not "change the world", a lot of people who roast their own coffee are hacking their coffee roasters to gain more control.

There is a short article about the Maker movement in the current issue of The Economist. They mention the Arduino boards (and open source software) as a key part, in addition to the 3D printers. Arduino is what some coffee geeks are using to interface with their coffee roasters.